As we went to sleep last night in the jungle - again secluded from any city buzz - we really noticed all of the sounds surrounding us: not just birds, cicadas and monkeys but also the pouring rain, lightening and thunder accompanying a rainy season storm. We woke pretty rested around 7am and since it was still raining, we hung around our apartment for a bit, just reading and catching up on some news.
Around 10am it started to clear up so we headed into town. After a few days of relaxing by the pool we decided to hike the 45 minute uphill walk from our place to our lunch destination: Falafel Bar (the #1 rated restaurant in Manuel Antonio according to Tripadvisor, which has yet to steer us wrong). Unfortunately, the place was closed - maybe because it was Sunday? - so we walked across the street to the only open restaurant we had seen so far: Café Milagro. We stopped just to catch our breath and rehydrate, but then...
OMG ICED COFFEE!!!!!
Obviously Alex got a massive "espresso shake" - which is code for "espresso plus two scoops of chocolate chip ice cream" - and drank most of it in two sips. That said, I still want to mention my amazing iced coffee - the first I've seen on this trip - which I purchased for less than $2!
After sweating our way into town and wondering where the iced + caffeinated beverages were over the past two weeks, I was THRILLED to have an amazing ice coffee experience. In a move 100% expected by Alex, I have already demanded we stop here every day while in Manuel Antonio.
We decided to stay and grab a quick lunch before the World Cup Final aired at 1pm and lucked out with a delicious meal: while the chicken sandwich was definitely nothing to write home about, the quesadilla was incredible. Definitely enough to feed two people for lunch (and for only $9). We then quickly headed to a nearby bar where we could watch the game and came across El Avion - a bar that is built around a U.S. SPY PLANE.
Sketchy plane shot down in Nicaragua, then purchased for $3,000 and turned into a tourist spot.
I am convinced this is a CIA coverup but Alex swears on tomorrow's iced coffee that this is not the case.
A natural CIA pilot, obviously.
After Germany finally (sadly) beat Argentina, we made our way to a small spot perched above the hills to watch the sunset. (Even though I know we have posted a bunch of sunset pics and it is only 2 weeks in, I can't resist!)
Sunset in Manuel Antonio never gets old.
We hiked the remaining half hour home and after reheating our delicious pizza leftovers from Uvita we knew it was time for some laundry. Lucky for us, our apartment had a clearly marked washing machine. Unlucky for us, the directions were completely in Spanish and the design was 100% counterintuitive:
You have to remove the wet /soapy clothes from the right to the "spin" section on the right.
After an hour of doing laundry, drinking wine and figuring out how to microwave delicious leftover pizza it was time for sleep - hoping for less thunderbolts tonight!